We evaluated the blood lead levels in 159 pregnant women and in their healthy newborns at birth. The blood lead levels were higher in mothers as compared with neonates, with a linear correlation between maternal and neonatal levels. The blood lead levels were also higher in neonates as compared with infants aged 6-12 months, and, besides, 2.5% of the newborns had blood lead levels > 10 microg/dl, the actual level of concern according to the Center for Disease Control. The study of blood and urinary lead levels during the 1st week of life showed a steady decrease of blood lead levels, together with increasing levels of urinary lead. The mechanism of renal elimination is important to avoid persistently high free blood lead levels, with possible deposition in tissues with high lead affinity, such as bone. In newborns, the possibility of a functional renal insufficiency during the first days of life suggests that newborns with high cord blood lead levels and impaired renal function could be at high risk of lead toxicity, so that it could be advisable to perform a careful and prolonged follow-up.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000013998 | DOI Listing |
Mol Med
January 2025
Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Barcelona, Spain.
Background: Lysinuric protein intolerance is a rare autosomal disorder caused by mutations in the Slc7a7 gene that lead to impaired transport of neutral and basic amino acids. The gold standard treatment for lysinuric protein intolerance involves a low-protein diet and citrulline supplementation. While this approach partially improves cationic amino acid plasma levels and alleviates some symptoms, long-term treatment is suggested to be detrimental and may lead to life-threatening complications characterized by a wide range of hematological and immunological abnormalities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Commun
January 2025
Department of Machine Learning, Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL, USA.
AI decision support systems can assist clinicians in planning adaptive treatment strategies that can dynamically react to individuals' cancer progression for effective personalized care. However, AI's imperfections can lead to suboptimal therapeutics if clinicians over or under rely on AI. To investigate such collaborative decision-making process, we conducted a Human-AI interaction study on response-adaptive radiotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Rep
January 2025
Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt.
Plastic pollution and global warming are widespread issues that lead to several impacts on aquatic organisms. Despite harmful studies on both subjects, there are few studies on how temperature increases plastics' adverse effects on aquatic animals, mainly freshwater species. So, this study aims to clarify the potential impact of temperature increases on the toxicological properties of polyvinyl chloride nano-plastics (PVC-NPs) in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) by measuring biochemical and oxidative biomarkers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Rep
January 2025
Hydrobiology Lab, National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries (NIOF), Cairo, Egypt.
The utilization of cyanobacteria toxin-producing blooms for metal ions adsorption has garnered significant attention over the last decade. This study investigates the efficacy of dead cells from Microcystis aeruginosa blooms, collected from agricultural drainage water reservoir, in removing of cadmium, lead, and zinc ions from aqueous solutions, and simultaneously addressing the mitigation of toxin-producing M. aeruginosa bloom.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Neurosci
January 2025
Department of Neuroscience, Brown University, Providence RI, USA.
Voltage-gated potassium conductances [Formula: see text] play a critical role not only in normal neural function, but also in many neurological disorders and related therapeutic interventions. In particular, in an important animal model of epileptic seizures, 4-aminopyridine (4-AP) administration is thought to induce seizures by reducing [Formula: see text] in cortex and other brain areas. Interestingly, 4-AP has also been useful in the treatment of neurological disorders such as multiple sclerosis (MS) and spinal cord injury, where it is thought to improve action potential propagation in axonal fibers.
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